Haunted Cache in NYC

The timing finally worked out so that hubby and I could be in NYC at the same time, so we took advantage of that over a long weekend. Explored Central Park on a horse carriage, walked around Times Square, saw a musical (Waitress), did some escape rooms (OMEscape - Room X and Mission Escape Games - Escape the Hydeout) and FOUND A GEOCACHE (Haunted NY – 17 Barrow St). This was a fun trip, we had a great time, and I'm hoping we can go explore more together another time.

Visiting Denver, Colorado

The hubby and I had a free weekend and found cheap tickets for a flight to Denver and what a day it was. We got in late Friday and left early Sunday, so we had a full day Saturday to enjoy the city. And we sure made a day of it. And got a geocache (I love visiting cemeteries, so this was a bonus).

Colorado Spirit Quest #5 – Riverside Cemetery

Road Trip 2016: Maine and Massachusetts

I am not sure who thought this would be a good idea, but we decided to wake up and take photos of the sunrise at a nearby lighthouse. Problem is - sunrise is super early! However, we got some great photos on the east coast of Maine.

After a quick nap, we left Maine and passed through Salem on the way back to Boston. This is a neat area if you ever have a chance to stop by.

And, let's not forget some geocaches to make the day complete.

• Yoko’s Favorite Café
• Congress Street Bridge

Road Trip 2016: Vermont and New Hampshire

Today seemed like a day with a lot of driving. A lot of pretty driving.

Along with some odd sites, like this tower of file cabinets.

Of course, this also included some stops for geocaches along the way (and one DNF)

• Little Farm (DNF)
• Tractor Beam
• Creemees to Bragg About
• Say Cheese
• X-it 40

Road Trip 2016: New York and Vermont

Today we drove from New York to Vermont and found some caches along the drive. We also tried some cheese along the way and enjoyed the fall colors. It was a bit more driving than previous days in the trip, so we took some breaks as we went. We found a neat park along the drive and a cache there: Fort Ann Town Park.

We also walked around the popular downtown area in Burlington where we were staying for the night. Tried and didn't find a cache there (The Band: Stage Fright), but did pick up local cheeses and apples for dinner.

Road Trip 2016: New York

We spent a couple of days in New York and visited an old home, a cidery, an orchard (briefly), and generally relaxed as it turns out a lot of things in Albany are closed on Columbus Day. It was a fun couple of days and we did find some geocaches too!

Our first cache was outside of an older home we toured that had a garden you could walk through (small garden). We looked to see if there was anything nearby and there was one right where we were standing: SM#1 - The Kitchen Garden.

We also looked while visiting the cidery and found a fun doggy friend to watch over us: Nipper.

We also drove along a great scenic route and saw some nice falls. Also got to read a bit about the water flow in the area and learned some about that. Also found a cache: The Falls.

My husband also made a new friend after we played some trivia.

Road Trip 2016: Rhode Island and Connecticut

Hubby and I took a road trip with my parents this year to take my mom to the north east. Over the course of this trip, we spent time in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine and saw a LOT of different things. It turned out to be a great time of the year with the leaves changes, so as we drove along there were so many pretty sights. And, being from Texas, we were surprised how close all of these locations were.

The first day of the trip saw us taking a short drive to Providence, Rhode Island where we visited a botanical garden, cemetery, and city festival.

We took a short walk away form the festival to find our first geocache of the trip: Boccce. It was a cute hide in a pretty busy area, so we waited out traffic and muggles to make the find. Then, we went to visit what brought us to the plaza in the first place - a giant chicken for Evan!

After spending some time at the festival, we headed on to Hartford, Connecticut and of course found a cache there as well: Sea Worthy.

Bye Bye Night Cache

I am sad to say goodbye to my night cache - I love this type of cache, but the location was difficult to maintain. After three different ammo cans and a few other containers, I've had to retire the Creekside Night Cache from my active caches.

Caching in Canada

I was sent to Canada for a work trip with a super fun co-worker of mine. We had a little time to ourselves the first night in town and had some dinner, took a carriage ride, and walked around Victoria. Such a nice town if you ever have a chance to visit. Also lots of little hiding spots for geocaches, including one we found right outside of our hotel: Little Brown Lamp Post. I hope to visit again when I have more time (and will be nearby at the end of November, so we'll see)!

We got to go to Yellowstone! (And cache in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana!)

My husband and I took a short weekend trip to Yellowstone and took this time to get geocaches in three new states at the same time. On the drive up from Jackson Hole, our first two stops were in Idaho. The first one was particularly neat: Island Park Village Resort. The location was pretty obvious when we got near, and lots of goodies inside. We also stopped for a break and found this cache (Sticker Cache) in a muggle-heavy zone.

We then found a few in Montana, starting with Roadside TB Hotel. Welcome! This one wasn't too hard to find, even though there were muggles nearby. We followed it up with Welcome to West Yellowstone 1 again - my location seemed a bit off on this one, so it took longer than I suspect it should have.

We spent so much of our time exploring Yellowstone, we almost missed getting a cache in Wyoming. But we did manage to find Elk Refugee Viewpoint Version 2. We also explored a nearby museum (which was closed) and posed with the statues in the parking lot.

Visiting some cemetery caches on Memorial Day weekend

For Memorial Day, we decided to stop by some cemeteries and pay our respects. Our first cemetery was for the Forgotten Cemetery, where we did encounter others also visiting. The cache itself was rather typical (if not a little muddy), but really we felt this was a nice stop to start the day.

The next cemetery we visited (Mobley Cemetery) was a little off the beaten path and well-hidden. If we hadn't had directions to help us get there, we would have never known this cemetery existed. It is a small family cemetery and there was a table and chairs for those visiting.

Our last stop was in a larger cemetery which was quite well maintained, Sowers Cemetery. This one also had several older graves, as well as many children. I also get pretty sad when I look and see a family who lost many members around the same time period, and some quite young, which seemed to be pretty common in the sections we visited. The cache was quite well hidden and probably the best hide of the day.

There was a bit of time for reflection, and I'm glad I got to think about my family and friends who are no longer with us. Everything really was at peace.

Geocaching in Hawaii!!!

I am super excited that we finally made it out to Hawaii! It was a fantastic vacation and we did and saw so many cool things, including finding some caches.

Our first stop was in Kauai, where we enjoyed some snorkeling and ATVs along with general sightseeing. During one of the scenic drives, we found a geocache with a GREAT view: Hanalei Bay View.

We spent a bit more time in Maui, and as a result, had some more finds here. While driving the road to Hana, I noticed a geocache a little off the path that led us to a spot we wouldn't have even noticed and are VERY glad to have stopped at: As The Waves Pound The Lava Rock.

Further along on the same drive, we caught up with another cache hanging out near a general store. This was another fun stop with art by local artists and good snacks. And a lot of goodies to look through :) Beer, Ice-cream or Candy

Our last Hawaii cache was my favorite and a little bit of a surprise. Don't get me wrong - Hawaii is beautiful and all of the locations we went to were great little spots we wouldn't have found with a geocache guiding us there. Also - learned to download the caches cause there is pretty spotty service in many areas. In any case, I just love how different this part of the island was - dry, windy, and lots of grass - not like what I pictured all of Hawaii to be like. Cactus included :) Big Island Lookout. At this spot, in addition to logging the cache, I picked up a travel bug to transfer to my lovely dog-sitter Lysax13.

And, while not related to the caching, here are some pretty dang neat videos anyways from the trip.

Easter weekend caching

Headed out of town with some friends, and while waiting for Martin House (you should go here if you visit Fort Worth) to open we took the time to find a few geocaches.

The first was a neat little natural wildlife area by the library. A lot of neat plants here, as well as a geocache full of goodies. The second was a typical PNG, and a third we had to DNF.

We also visited the stockyards and botanical gardens while in town.

Current ranking of Texas geocachers

Took a peek at a listing I haven't checked in a while. It doesn't reflect the caches I found over the weekend, but still moved up quite a bit to #1877. Let's see if we can keep up this trend!

Have you ever wondered where Preston Road ends if you drive north until you cannot anymore?

Today we headed out with Lesley and CJ on one of our random "where does this road end?" drives. For this adventure, we met up at Jack Macs on Preston, grabbed a quick bite to eat, then started our drive north.

I had intended to stop more for geocaches on the way, but was soon distracted by singing along to the music and catching up with friends. We did stop for one in Prosper, TX, though, and got to see a pretty old church with flowers (and bees) everywhere: Prosper Landmark #2 Old Church.

Okay, and perhaps then we found another distraction not too long later in the form of a winery we'd never heard of. But we stopped for a wine tasting at Eden Hill Vineyard and we pleasantly surprised. I really like the non-sweet reds best (as is usual), but even still, this was a pleasant (if distracting) pause in the trip north.

After that, we got back on our way and drove...and drove...and drove. We kept thinking, sure this is the end, but then we made it a little farther. And when we did find the end, we were met with a pretty view and could see (but not quite reach) Oklahoma across the lake.

Puzzle series weekend

A while back I started working some puzzle caches, and I spent a bit of time Saturday morning solving many of them, plotting on a map, and driving around finding them with my hubby. We found around ten on Saturday before we had to head on home, then went back out on Sunday to find more. We ending up grabbing 23 in this series of mainly park and grabs once the puzzles were solved, and we have a few more solved that we will grab as time permits.

What I think I loved most about the series was getting to work out some math and chemistry problems. That was a welcome challenge to me, and I hope to find some more like this to attempt later.

There were MANY muggles out at these locations, and I really wish I'd gotten better pictures, as there was clearly a convention in the area...

Also, came across this tennis court that has clearly seen better times.

And, finally, this pair of Mustangs.

My favorite puzzles of the ones we've finished:

• Geocaching ions
• REDEUX:Chemistry class ideas for a puzzle cache #2
• REDEUX:Chemistry class ideas for a puzzle cache #4

Also, here was my t-shirt choice of the day, in keeping with the theme of many of the caches found.

A quick find for March 9

Again, trying to keep up with caching. So far my March chart is looking great, and with the addition of Capital Uno 2 I've good so far.

Month	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
March	2	18	1	1	6	17	1	1	1

This type of cache makes me nervous

Again, trying to keep up with the caching in March, and this time made a quick find on the way back from a friend's house. I am always nervous about these caches that are to a business, but at least it was late enough that there weren't any muggles.

Geocaching is what happens when you are an hour early for an appointment...

Well, I mixed up my calendar appointments and got somewhere over an hour early on this beautiful morning. So, I had the choice of reading (I really need to wrap up a book club book) or geocaching. I'm sure you can guess from this post which one won.

Almost all of these caches are PNGs, with the exception of one that I had to come back for later with the appropriate "gear" to help out - À Remplir was the best one of the group and was quite fun (hubby loved it!), although the rest were good to find quickly.

• Fitness Capital
• PNG @ The 99 Ranch
• Used to be a field - LPC
• More! More! - Oaks
• It's Been A Long Day's Night
• More! More! - Fitness

Frogger island adventures

Back in 2014, a group of us decided to spend a day out on Lake Lewisville and just have some fun. We of course pulled up geocaching and found this cool cache in the middle of an island on the lake. We jumped in, swam to the island, and we met with a ton or thorns and poison ivy. Needless to say, we weren't prepared or successful that day. But we were today!

To start off with, this time since it was chilly (and the water cold) we got a raft to get from the boat to the island instead of swimming. This also gave us the advantage of have dry clothes and shoes, which was way useful.

We then got ready and explored the cool old things scattered around the island (and got a fun group shot).

Then, the cache. Wow. I'm not going to spoil it for others too much, but glad we had a tree monkey with us!

Found two caches in one spot

For not the first time, we arrived at a geocache (Another GZ in CFB) and found two caches, one that appears to be a part of an old series I've seen around. Maybe one day I'll follow the trail on that one. Just a quick grab on the way home.

Giving a travel bug a new home

The other day I picked up a travel bug that was trying to travel far, so today my hubby and I drove north a while and found a place to drop off a cache before dinner. To date, this travel bug has gone 2671.3 miles. Going to try and keep an eye out on it.

Also, I'm aiming to get a cache to fill up my March chart, so this served another good purpose.

Leap day cache

After catching a movie with some friends (they are getting in as many date nights as they can before their baby girl is born later this month), hubby and I stopped to find a quick cache for Leap Day. At this cache, I grabbed a travel bug, which I'll be helping move along soon.

Getting revenge on a previous DNF

A while back, we spent close to an hour looking for Rusty Bridge #4. Today, we found it. Finally!

We then headed across town to try our hand at Rusty Bridge #5 (Bridge to Nowhere). We were intrigued by the name, and since it was in the same series, we went for it. This one was much easier, and the location was just odd.

A lovely afternoon walk and many caches

Up until today, I've been sitting at 666 caches for quite a while. Since it is so pretty out, we decided to head out and get back into the geocaching groove. This was a nice walk, and we got to enjoy a very nice walking path (and some off the path). Thankfully, it is a nice day early in the year, and no poison ivy at any of these caches!

Our first couple of caches were simple, but one (Home away from home) was in need of repair. We swapped the bag and the log out since it was wet and ruined.

We then had quite a long walk to our next cache and our first encounter with thorns for the day. Given the location, we didn't expect something so fun, but it was neat find due to surroundings (W T D (Plano) # 7). We also had some fun hanging out on the bridge and playing with light.

We then looked for a few more caches in the same series (W T D (Plano) # 5, W T D (Plano) # 4, W T D (Plano) # 3, and W T D (Plano) # 2). We found three of the four. On the fourth, we found a cable tie in the tree, but no cache. The area looked flooded. However, we did find a nice friend in a nearby tree, and James got to crawl around in some thorns.

I was a bad blogger in 2015

To say that 2015 was crazy is such an understatement I don't even know where to start. So, I'm going to retroactively post some blogs for the finds I made in 2015. Sadly, I got no where near my goal (I didn't even fill in January), and there are way too many reasons to go into. However, I would say that I did an EXCELLENT job finding caches in other states and other countries with all my travel.

Number of finds	38
Number of states	14 Delaware, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia
Number of countries	5 Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, United Kingdom, United States

For this year, I'm going to set some other goals that should be easier for me to achieve:

1. Perform maintenance on all of my caches
2. Find geocaches in Hawaii and Louisiana
3. Find a geocache in Jamaica
4. Get to 700 finds
5. Find this cache that attacked us with fire ants and poison ivy last time!